| Abstract: | Correspondence to Julie Browne, 5 Belsize Crescent, London NW3 5QY Summary Despite an increase in both publicity on child sexual abuseand initiatives from government and voluntary agencies, it isby no means obvious that the position of the majority of sexuallyabused children has been significantly improved. Most sexuallyabused children still do not disclose the fact that they arebeing abused and it has been argued that new ways of approachingthe problem of child sexual abuse are needed. A study was madeof the policy development work being carried Out by the children'scharities and by survivors' organizations in this area. Individualsurvivors were also questioned as to the type of help they neededwhen children to enable them to end or escape the abuse. Itemerged that, in the main, the charities espouse pathologized/legalisticsolutions to the problem of child sexual abuse. In contrast,survivors' organizations tended to adopt a view of the problemwhich challenges societal attitudes, male sexual socialization,and the labelling of victims as passive and damaged. This articleattempts to find explanations for why these different approacheshave been taken and examines the implications for policy developmentin this area. It concludes that social workers and the children'scharities could benefit considerably from greater collaborationwith both survivors and survivors' organizations. |
